How To Save A Life
by StuckInThePast
Summary: Snippets of the big events in Rodney and Jennifer's lives.  Rodney/Jennifer established.
1. When You Say Nothing At All

**How To Save A Life**

Rating: K at the moment, but may become T later on.  
Category: Romance, General, some angst in later chapters.  
Pairing: Jennifer/Rodney established.  
Errors: Mine - this is totally unbeta'd (betaed? How do you spell a word like that?)  
Spoilers: None that I can see, but I suppose you could argue Brainstorm.  
Warnings: Nope, not yet. I'll let you know when it comes up.  
Disclaimer: If I owned SGA, would we still be waiting on a movie?

**Chapter 1 - When You Say Nothing At All**

He was nervous – much more so than usual; and Jennifer had been sure that he'd become a lot more relaxed in the past few months they'd been together. He was trying to hide it, too, when generally he liked to share his thoughts with her. He'd said once that it helped him calm down, talking to her about the problems he came across while working, although there hadn't been too much talking after that.

"Rodney," she said eventually, after about five minutes of silence. "You've hardly touched your food, and I know you skipped lunch today. What's going on?"

He looked up at her from the plate he had been staring at. "Well, I, uh..." He cleared his throat and started again. "I don't want to do this here." He stood up and took her by the hand, heading out of the mess hall.

A million scenarios rushed through Jennifer's mind. The balcony she realised now that they were headed for was the most private place in the city, and was often used by couples who wanted to have a conversation that might be humiliating to one or both. He was finishing things with her, and taking her somewhere where her tears would be unseen. "Rodney?"

They went out onto the balcony, and the doors closed behind them. Rodney leant against the barrier, looking out to the ocean, and she followed his gaze before shaking her head and grabbing hold of his shoulder and pulling on it.

"Hey! Rodney, would you please look at me?"

He turned to face her, surprised at her forceful tone. She let go, and dropped her head with a heavy sigh. "Look, if you want out, just say so, okay?"

"Out of what?"

He sounded genuinely confused, but Jennifer just glared at him. "This. Us. Stop messing me about, okay? This is going to be hard enough."

He was silent for a while, and she turned angrily to leave. "I thought you'd have the decency to do that, at least," she muttered.

"What? Wait! Hey, Jennifer!" He caught her arm just before the doors closed behind her, and she turned back to him, tears pouring down her face. "What's going on? Did you think I brought you here to..."

"To break up with me? Well, you did." Her tone was bitter, but the control was somewhat broken by her sobs. Damn tears. Damn him. He had to make this so damn hard.

"No-no-no, I didn't! Why would I ever want this to end? I love you, all right? I love you." He pulled her back towards him, and held her as she cried. "I love you," he repeated into her hair.

Eventually she managed to get her tears under control, and she pulled out of his hold. "Rodney, why are we here?"

"I didn't want to put you under any pressure, or-or embarrass you, or anything like that, okay? If you don't want to-"

"Rodney..."

"We're here so I can propose." And he dug into his jacket, producing a glittering emerald ring. "Uh, I've kind of ruined the moment now, but... Jennifer, will you marry me?"

She gasped, covered her mouth, and turned away from him. Unable to control herself, she burst into a fresh bout of tears, and her whole body shook.

"I get it," Rodney said quietly. "It's okay. You don't have to-"

"You want to get married," she managed in an unfathomable tone.

"Uh, only if you want to-"

She spun around, grabbed him by the shirt, and closed the gap between their lips.

When they separated for simple lack of breath, he stared at her. "So, um, is that a... maybe?"

All Jennifer could do was laugh, and he had to join in.

So, what do you think? If there's anything that could be better, please let me know. I'm a stickler for getting things perfect.

~Past


	2. Blessed

Short one this time, I'm afraid. I'll have to see about finding a beta to help me manage chapter length and so on, because the next one's three times the length of this.

Rating: Still K.  
Category: Still Romance.  
Pairing: Still established McKeller.  
Errors: Mine, this is still lacking in the beta department.  
Spoilers: Not that I can see.  
Warnings: Well, if you can see that reference, you don't need to be warned.  
Disclaimer: I'll ask for ownership of SGA for Christmas, but I'm not promising anything.

Enjoy!

**Chapter 2 - Blessed**

"Jennifer?"

_Lunch date_. Jennifer swore under her breath, then reached up to touch her radio. "Hey, Rodney. I'm going to have to cancel."

"Is everything okay?"

"Fine, fine. I'm just really behind on my paperwork," she lied.

"You've never been behind in your life," he said accusingly. "Anyway, paperwork can wait. We need to sort out seating arrangements for the reception."

"Can we do it tomorrow? I'm – I'm really tired." Well, at least _that_ was true. Jennifer lay back on her bed.

"Everything's not okay, is it? W-w-what's wrong?"

Jennifer was hit by a sudden wave of resolution. After all, he had to be told eventually, and if she put it off she'd never tell him. "Rodney, could you come and meet me in my quarters? We really need to talk."

The sound of his panic as he ran through all the possible deadly situations she could be in made her feel better. It was nothing anywhere near as dire as he was suggesting, and now it didn't seem so bad at all.

"I'm pregnant."

Rodney, sitting on her bed, gaped at her with remarkable resemblance to a goldfish.

"Are you okay?"

"Pregnant? As in, pregnant? Foetus-growing-inside-your-uterus-pregnant?"

"Yeah."

"We're-going-to-be-parents-pregnant?"

"That's the one."

A grin suddenly spread across his face and he jumped up, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her.

"I should tell you life-changing news more often," she said, giggling a little as he paused for breath.

"We're going to be parents," he responded, kissing her again.

"And you're not scared? You don't think it's all going to go wrong?"

"I'm doing it with you, aren't I?"

They both skipped lunch that day.


	3. At Last

Well, another chapter's ready! I'm sorry it's taken so long, I've gotten caught up with life and things.

Rating: Still K.  
Category: Still Romance.  
Pairing: Still established McKeller.  
Errors: Mine.  
Spoilers: I don't think so, but if you haven't seen Season 5, you might be confused.  
Warnings: Not that I can see. Focus is away from the gore.  
Disclaimer: I hear they've shelved the Atlantis movie for the time being. It could not be clearer that I have not one iota of power in the Stargate franchise.  
Kudos: The wonderful DaniWilder, who did not so much as complain when I sent her a draft to beta just a few days before Christmas.

Madison Miller took careful steps down the aisle, obviously very pleased with herself as she scattered rose-petals on the floor. She looked up to her uncle, who was standing at the altar with Colonel John. He looked too nervous to notice her, but his friend grinned down at her, and she giggled.

When Madison reached the end of the aisle and stepped to one side, the church door opened again, and on her father's arm, Jennifer stepped in, her abdomen swollen to an eight-month pregnancy. Behind her was Teyla, in a long green dress she had insisted on a slit down the leg to ensure the possibility of running in an emergency, despite the others' assurances that it was unlikely they would come across anything like that in Jennifer's Wisconsin hometown.

As the band started playing and the whole room rose, Rodney's face split into a smile.

It turned out to be more dramatic than anyone had foreseen, because Jennifer had barely said "I do" when her water broke.

Carson was immediately challenged with the prospect of midwifery, something as far as it could be from his field. Sam helpfully volunteered Daniel, saying "He's delivered before," and Teyla recommended Rodney, the two women for their pains receiving respectively a sharp elbow to the ribs, and an unimpressed glare. Nonetheless, both men were obliged to stay, and the lot fell to Jack O'Neill and John Sheppard, the least qualified midwives nobody dared ask Ronon how he was qualified to take the kids outside and wait for the ambulance that had just been called. Torren Emmagan in one arm and Madison clinging onto the other, John followed Jack to the nearest bench to the church and they sat together.

"I hate all this sitting around," John said after a few moments, watching Madison braid a strand of hair. "Not used to missing all the action. Usually I'm the cause of it."

Jack smirked in something like amusement. "I'll never get used to not going off-world. But if you look in the right places, there's plenty of fun to be got on good ol' Earth. I mean, we have the Simpsons."

John laughed. "Yes, sir. I do miss the Simpsons out there in the next galaxy."

"Have to dig out my DVD collection before you go."

John was on the verge of insisting that it wasn't necessary, when he was cut off by the sound of a siren as an ambulance sped around the corner, coming to a stop directly in front of them. Torren took to screaming, and was comforted with semi-attention as the paramedics, and the midwife brought with them, were directed to the little room, from where Jennifer's screams could just be heard as the door opened.

"That's the ambulance," John soothed Torren, lifting him up and spinning him in attempt to calm him down. "It's not dangerous. It's come to look after Doctor Jennifer."

"I'm not scared of an ambulance," Madison announced. She was still sitting on the bench, swinging her legs and staring at Torren. "I haven't been since I was lots littler than you."

"Madison!" John scolded. "That's not very nice. Torren's never seen an ambulance before, and they're scary first time. And he's a lot smaller than you." Madison was seven now, and to Torren's not-quite-two, she thought herself quite grown up. And it was grown up to apologise, her mommy had told her, so she held up her head, looked directly at Torren, and said, "I'm sorry."

"'S okay," he said, whimpering, and Madison smiled at him.

The church doors opened, and Sam came forth, removing a bloody coat as she strolled over. "We've got a baby," she said.


	4. Excuses, excuses

I'm absolutely swamped in exam revision, coursework and so on at the moment, so I'm going to have to put this story on hiatus for a few weeks. Watch this space, and I'll try to get something finished in the first week of February.

Also, as I forgot to ask on the last chapter, thoughts about the baby? I've an idea of the gender, but I'm not certain, and I've no idea what Jennifer and Rodney might call their kid. My criteria is simply that I'm not naming it after a character in the show, or a relative they've mentioned. I've nothing against the principle, but it's not for me. Thank you!

~Ruth


End file.
